Lasizwe rebranding after five years in entertainment industry

It's hard to believe that it's only half a decade since we were introduced to Lasizwe Dambuza as a YouTuber and influencer. Now, five years later, he is on a path to rebrand himself.

Lasizwe has become a reality TV star, CEO of his own production company and an entrepreneur, and told TshisaLIVE he is constantly looking for new ways to expand his career. 

“I'm rebranding myself. I've been in this game for five years now, so I've been trying to diversify myself and just expand my portfolio and horizon,” he says.

While he's always been aware of the nature of the industry he's in, Lasizwe says he is still learning how to shut out the noise of social media critics and trolls. He finds relief in taking time off to realign himself and his purpose.

“I haven't found a balance [yet]. I think it's weird that five years later I still don't know how to handle trolls and how to allow myself to have peace and sanity ... it's just the element of being human.”

Lasizwe says he intentionally didn't use his full name when starting his career because he always wanted to be able to keep his personal life and celeb persona apart.

“What I've done with my career is not based on my real name. Lasizwe is not on my ID, so when I'm home and the lights go off, all I have is myself - Thulasizwe.”

He has stamped his real name on his production company because it is not part of the social media personality he portrays, he says.

“You need to find what brings you back to zero, calm [down], and realise why you do what you do and what will remind you of why you'll do it again. So it's not the Lasizwe Dambuza social media facade, TD media is the real core of myself.”

He has about 10 permanent staff members and several interns employed in his production company.

“We're creating a lot of jobs, and one thing about TD Media is that we love employing the youth. It's more of a skills development company.”

Earlier this year, Lasizwe was part of a student funding campaign called #R10GoesALongWay. He teamed up with Sibu Mabena, King Aya, and Takkies Dinwiddy on the project which raised money to help students pay their registration fees.

Lasizwe says he wants to grow the project next year to make it bigger and better.

“We're going to try to pay for more students' fees. There will be a difference in the roll out next year. I think it was a learning curve for all of us.”